Accountability of non-state actors 29. While there are various competing definitions of what entities classify as non- state actors, for the purpose of the present Guidelines a broad definition of the term is used. It covers private individuals and all other actors other than states, regardless of their status or any official affiliation with a state. Non-state actors therefore include political or social groups, faith leaders and institutions (including those afforded a special status in a state), media corporations, businesses (including multinational corporations and large-scale industries such as agricultural or extractive industries), privately-contracted security services, as well as armed groups and criminal organizations, among others. 30. In terms of the relationship of non-state actors to the work of human rights defend- ers, the UN Human Rights Council has invited “leaders in all sectors of society and respective communities, including political, social and faith leaders, and leaders in business and media, to express public support for the important role of human rights defenders and the legitimacy of their work.”34 31. As regards businesses, the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which have been endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council, emphasize that business enterprises should respect human rights, i.e., that they should avoid infringing human rights and should address adverse human rights impacts created by business activities in which they engage. To that end, as recommended in the Guiding Principles, business enterprises should – as appropriate to their size and circumstances – adopt policy commitments, together with human rights due-diligence processes, to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address their impacts on human rights, as well as processes to enable the remediation of any adverse human rights impacts they cause or to which they contribute.35 Business corporations should be encouraged to pay particular attention to the impact of their operations on the situation of human rights defenders. In conducting an 34  A/HRC/RES/22/6, para. 18. 35  See Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, John Ruggie, “Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework”, UN Doc. A/HRC/17/31, 23 March 2011, principle 15. The Guiding Principles were endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council, see Resolution A/HRC/17/31, 16 June 2011, para. 1. On this issue, see also: the report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders on large-scale development projects, UN Doc. A/68/262, 5 August 2013; and the reports of the UN Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, for example, UN Doc. A/HRC/23/32, 14 March 2013, in which the Working Group remarked that “the role of civil society organizations and human rights defenders in raising awareness of the grave negative human rights impact of some business activities, as well as the harassment, persecution and reprisals faced by human rights defenders and civil society organizations that try to address such forms of impact and ensure access to remedies for victims” (para. 49), and expressed its concern about reports “of grave allegations of harassment, persecution and reprisals faced by victims and human rights defenders when seeking judicial remedy” (para. 47). 32 Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders